Clip



W. GENCY April 26, 1938.

CLIP

Filed Sept. 2, 1956 NIIIIINI H HF ll ll. l h blllllhll| 41%,

jvwwwto't MZ LL/AM GENCY Patented Apr. 26, 1938 A UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CLIP Application September 2, 1936, Serial No. 99,068

Claims.

This invention relates to clips for securing together portions of straps, belts, or the like, and finds particular adaptation in the joining of the ends of belts.

The aim of the invention is to provide an improved clip having various features of novelty and advantage, and which is particularly characterized by its simplicity and economy of construction, the facility with which it may be applied, its effectiveness in use in that it securely holds the strap ends together, and which has a neat and pleasing appearance.

Other objects Will be in part obvious and in part pointed out more in detail hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing wherein is shown, for illustrative purposes, one embodiment which the present invention may take:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of my improved clip as applied to the ends of a belt;

Fig. 2 is: a side edge view of the clip, the belt being shown in cross section;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the clip before it is applied to the belt ends; and

Fig. 4 is a section taken along the lines 44 of Fig. l.

Referring to the drawing in detail, it will be seen that my improved clip is formed from a single piece of sheet metal folded back upon itself at one end and having a flange or lip at its other end for securing the clip in closed position about the strap ends. More particularly, my clip is formed of an elongated blank which may be shaped from a sheet or strip of sheet metal. The clip has a generally rectangular front wall H) and a rear wall H, the two walls being in spaced relation and connected at their upper ends by a curved or U-shaped bent portion l2. At the lower end of the front wall I0 is a rearwardly projecting flange I3 which laterally projects to a distance greater than the distance between the front and rear walls when the clip is attached to the belt ends.

The rear wall, by preference, is of slightly lesser width than the front wall and is of such length that, when brought into parallelism with the front wall, the lower edge of the rear wall is disposed adjacent the upper face of said flange. Extending forwardly from each of the lateral edges of the rear wall and projecting towards the front wall are prongs or teeth 14 which are preferably of triangular shape. These teeth are of substantial length in order that when the clip is applied to the strap ends the teeth will embed themselves into the strap ends and thereby hold these ends from being withdrawn from the clip. Before the clip is applied, the rear wall is angularly disposed to the front wall (as shown in Fig. 3) so as to permit the strap ends to be threaded past the prongs and into the clip from opposite side edges of the latter. As illustrated, I preferably bend the front wall Ill through a slight extent both longitudinally and transversely so that the side edges of the front wall will also tend to become embedded in the strap.

When it is desired to apply the clip, the strap ends are threaded thereinto while the clip is in the position shown in Fig. 3. Then the walls are forced towards each other and into parallelism. During this operation, the portions of the belt ends within the clip are squeezed between the walls and the prongs and side edges of the front wall bite into the material of the strap The strap S may be made of leather, webbing, cloth, or other suitable material. The rearwardly projecting free end of the flange I3 is then bent upwardly into overlying engagement with the lower end of the rear wall, thus providing a. looking lip ll. Thus, the front and rear walls are secured together at their lower ends so as to maintain the clip in closed position about the strap ends.

It will be seen from the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing that I have provided an extremely simple clip which may be manufactured at a very low cost, while, at the same time, the clip is fully effective in maintaining the strap ends in secured positions.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and; specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

I claim as my invention:

1. A clip for securing two end portions of a rearward wall after the strap ends are received in the clip to secure the clip inclamped position.

2. A clip for securing two end portions of a strap together in abutting relation, comprising a sheet metal member having a front wall and a rear wall secured in spaced relatio-n'by a bent portion at their upper ends, said front wall being transversely curved towards said rearward wall whereby the side edges of said front wall will. embed in' the strap, teeth extending from the side edges of said rearward wall and projecting generally towards the front wall, said teeth embedding in the strap to aid in securing it in position, and a rearwardly projecting flange at the bottom of the front wall underlying the bottom edge of said rearward wall, the rearwardly projecting end of said flange being adapted to be bent upwardly into overlying engagement with the bottom of said rearward wall, to maintain the 'clip in closed position.

3. A clip for securing two end portions of a strap together in abutting relation, comprising a sheet metal member having a front wall and a rear wall secured in spaced relation by a bent portion at their upper ends, teeth extending laterally from each of the side edges of said rear wall and projecting generally towards said front wall and arranged to be embedded in said strap, said front wall being transversely and longitudi- 4. A sheet metal clip for securing two ends of a strap together in abutting relation, having a front wall, a rear wall spaced therefrom and having a lesser width than said front wall, teeth laterally extending from the side edges of the rear wall and projecting towards the front wall intermediate of the edges thereof, said teeth being arranged to embed themselves within the strap when the clip is secured in position, and a rearwardly projecting flange on an end of said front wall engaging against an end of said rear wall to aid in securing the clip in. closed interlocked engagement with said strap ends.

5. A clip for securing two end portions of a strap together in abutting relation, comprising a sheet metal memberv having a front wall and a rear wall secured in spaced relation by a bent portion at their upper ends, said rear wall being of lesser width than the front wall and having a plurality of laterally extending teeth projecting.

inwardly from its side edges and adapted to be overlying engagement with said rear wall to secure the clip in clamped position.

7 WILLIAM GENCY. 

